Crab Nebula (Messier 1): Facts, Pulsar, Supernova, Location, Images | Constellation Guide Constellation Guide Constellations: A Guide to the Night Sky Crab Nebula – Messier 1 by admin The Crab Nebula, also known as Messier 1 and Taurus A, is a supernova remnant located in the direction of Taurus constellation . The nebula lies at an approximate distance of 6,500 light years from Earth. It is an expanding remnant of a star that exploded in a supernova event which was observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054 AD. The nebula’s designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 1952. The Crab Nebula was created as a result of an extremely bright supernova explosion, one that was visible to the naked eye for almost two years. The supernova remnant was later observed by the English astronomer John Bevis, who discovered it in 1731. Charles Messier discovered the object independently in 1758 while looking for a comet that Edmond Halley said would return that year.

Messier 1 is also classified as a pulsar wind nebula, which means that the nebula is made of the material ejected by a pulsating neutron star interacting with interstellar gas and the magnetic field of the pulsar itself. The Crab Nebula expands at a rate of 1,500 kilometres per second. It contains two dim stars at its centre, one of which is the neutron star. This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mostly of hydrogen. The rapidly spinning neutron star embedded in the center of the nebula is the dynamo powering the nebula’s eerie interior bluish glow. The blue light comes from electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around magnetic field lines from the neutron star.

The neutron star, like a lighthouse, ejects twin beams of radiation that appear to pulse 30 times a second due to the neutron star’s rotation. A neutron star is the crushed ultra-dense core of the exploded star. The Crab Nebula derived its name from its appearance in a drawing made by Irish astronomer Lord Rosse in 1844, using a 36-inch telescope. When viewed by Hubble, as well as by large ground-based telescopes such as the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, the Crab Nebula takes on a more detailed appearance that yields clues into the spectacular demise of a star, 6,500 light-years away. The newly composed image was assembled from 24 individual Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 exposures taken in October 1999, January 2000, and December 2000. The colors in the image indicate the different elements that were expelled during the explosion. Blue in the filaments in the outer part of the nebula represents neutral oxygen, green is singly-ionized sulfur, and red indicates doubly-ionized oxygen. Image: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A.

Loll (Arizona State University) The nebula is notable for its intricate structure, with filaments of dust that can be seen in visible wavelengths. Its contains enough dust, made of carbon and silicate materials, to make 30,000-40,000 Earths. Study of the nebula provided definitive proof that supernova events created the raw materials for the first solid particles. Messier 1 is the strongest known persistent source of X-ray and gamma-ray radiation in the sky. It contains the Crab Pulsar at its centre, a neutron star about 28-30 kilometres across. The dead star’s core emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves as it spins at a rate of 30.2 per second. This is useful for studying the objects that pass in front of the nebula, blocking its radiation, like the Sun or the moons orbiting the planets in the solar system. In 2003, scientists used it to measure the thickness of Titan’s (Saturn’s moon) atmosphere and in the mid-20th century, they used it to map the Sun’s corona.

The Crab Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and cannot be seen without binoculars or a telescope. Observing it with binoculars requires good viewing conditions, and it only appears as a faint patch of light in 7×50 and 10×50 binoculars. In 4-inch telescopes, one can see a hint of the nebula’s streak structure in the central region, and in most smaller telescopes the nebula looks similar to a comet without a tail. The filaments and details of the nebula’s structure are only visible in 16-inch or larger telescopes in good viewing conditions. The Crab Nebula occasionally flares up. The most recent flare was recorded in March 2013, when the nebula exhibited a spike in gamma-ray emission three times more intense than its usual output. In April 2011, a particularly bright outburst was recorded that made the nebula about 30 times brighter than it normally is. The flares are suspected to be the result of the pulsar’s wind. FACTS M1 is about 11 light years in diameter, which translates into 7 arc minutes of apparent diameter.

It is part of the Perseus Arm of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The Crab Nebula was the first object to be entered in Messier’s catalogue and remains one of the most studied objects in the night sky. It helps that the view of the nebula is not obscured by dust and other interstellar material, which makes it easy to observe and study. The nebula was also the first object associated with a historical supernova event. The supernova remnant was discovered by John Bevis in 1731, who included it in his sky atlas, Uranographia Britannica. Charles Messier observed the object independently on August 28, 1758, and thought it was a comet. Once he had realized that the object did not have apparent proper motion, he entered it into his catalogue on September 12, 1758. Messier’s catalogue was created to list objects that sky watchers confused for comets, and the Crab Nebula was the first deep sky object on his list. The supernova explosion in 1054 was so bright that it was visible in the daytime sky for 23 days. The event was documented by astronomers and sky watchers throughout the Far East.

Drawing of the Crab Nebula. Originally published in Observations on Some of the Nebulae, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London vol. 134 (1844). Author: William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse. British astronomer William Parsons, Lord Rosse, sketched the nebula around 1844 after observing it though a 36-inch telescope. The image of the object resembled a crab, which is how the nebula got its name. The name stuck even though Lord Rosse later said his sketch was not representative of the nebula’s appearance and structure after observing it through a 72-inch telescope in 1848. The nebula was first photographed n 1892 using a 20-inch telescope. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that scientists determined that the nebula was expanding and matched its origination date to the historical supernova explosion. In 1918, the American astronomer Heber D. Curtis classified the object as a planetary nebula. It was not until 1933 that this classification was disproved.

In 1921, the American astronomer Carl Otto Lampland used photographs of the nebula taken using a 42-inch reflector and discovered motions inside the nebula. He saw that individual components changed in brightness, especially those in the vicinity of the central pair of stars. 1921 was also the year the American astronomer John Charles Duncan discovered that the nebula was expanding at a rate of about 0.2” per year after comparing photographs taken 11.5 years apart. It was the Swedish astronomer Knut Lundmark who first noted the proximity of the Crab Nebula to the historical supernova of 1054, also in 1921. In 1928, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble suggested that the object be associated with the historical supernova. In 1942, the German astronomer Walter Baade used a 100-inch Hooker telescope to study the nebula and traced back its year of origin to 1180. Later calculations changed the estimated date to 1140. As the supernova occurred in 1054, the expansion rate of the nebula is believed to have accelerated.

The nebula was linked to the Supernova 1054 beyond reasonable doubt in 1942 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. Crab Nebula – Messier 1 (NGC 1952, Sharpless 244) Coordinates: 05h34m31.94s (right ascension), +22°00’52.2” (declination) Visual magnitude: 8.4 Apparent dimensions: 420” x 290” Radius: 5.5 light years Constellation: Taurus PULSAR The pulsar inside the Crab Nebula is the rapidly spinning, relatively young neutron star that powers the nebula. A neutron star is created in the aftermath of a supernova. Stars explode when they run out of fuel to keep from collapsing into themselves; their outer layers are ejected into space in a supernova explosion, creating a nebula, while the inner core contracts to form a neutron star. A star’s spectacular death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D.

Now, almost a thousand years later, a super dense object — called a neutron star — left behind by the explosion is seen spewing out a blizzard of high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula. X-ray data from Chandra provide significant clues to the workings of this mighty cosmic “generator,” which is producing energy at the rate of 100,000 suns. This composite image uses data from three of NASA’s Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical image is in red and yellow, and the Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared image is in purple. The X-ray image is smaller than the others because extremely energetic electrons emitting X-rays radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. Along with many other telescopes, Chandra has repeatedly observed the Crab Nebula over the course of the mission’s lifetime. The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the sky, truly making it a cosmic icon.

Image – X-Ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA, JPL-Caltech, R.Gehrz (Univ. Minn.) The neutron star that remains is very small, normally just 10 to 15 miles across, but it is extremely dense. The star within the Crab Nebula rotates very rapidly, and completes about 30 revolutions each second. Rotating neutron stars like this one are called pulsars. The word is derived from the contraction of the term “pulsating star.” The Crab Pulsar is one of the most powerful pulsars known. It lights the nebula in every wavelength, from radio to gamma-rays. The optical pulsar has a diameter of about 20 kilometres. The X-rays emitted by the nebula were discovered in April 1963, and the source was subsequently named Taurus X-1. After further observation, scientists concluded that the X-rays come from an area which is at least 2 arcminutes in size, and that the nebula’s X-ray emission is roughly 100 times more intense that the energy emitted in visible light.

The nebula’s luminosity in visible light translates into an absolute magnitude of about -3.2, which makes the Crab Nebula more than 1,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Its luminosity across all spectral ranges is estimated to be 100,000 times that of the Sun. The Italian astrophysicist Franco Pacini predicted the existence of a neutron star in the 1960s to account for the nebula’s brightness. The Crab Pulsar (PSR B0531+21) was discovered in Messier 1 on November 9, 1968. The pulsating radio source was detected at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico by astronomers using a 300-meter radio telescope. On January 15, 1969, astronomers at the Steward Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, observed the nebula using a 36-inch telescope and discovered that the Crab Pulsar was flashing with a period of 33.085 miliseconds. The knowledge of the pulsar’s exact age helped astronomers in the study of these objects and their physical properties.

The only other pulsar connected to a known supernova is located in 3C58 in Cassiopeia constellation , the remnant of the supernova SN 1181, but the connection between the two has been contested. The discovery of the pulsar within the Crab Nebula confirmed the theory that neutron stars were formed in certain types of supernova events. The pulsar was really first detected in the summer of 1967 by Charles Schisler, a U.S. Air Force officer, who detected a radio source and determined its position, which corresponded to that of the Crab Nebula. Schisler later discovered a number of other pulsars, but the Air Force never published his discoveries because they did not think they were of any concern to them. The Crab Pulsar emits pulses in every part of the electromagnetic spectrum and powers the nebula. Its spin rate, 30 times per second, is slowly decelerating, by 38 nanoseconds per day, because the pulsar wind carries away a lot of its energy. The spinning neutron star has a visual magnitude of 16 in visible light and an absolute magnitude of 4.5, roughly the same as the Sun in visible light.

SUPERNOVA SN 1054, the supernova that created the Crab Nebula was originally seen by Chinese astronomers on July 4, 1054 AD. They documented it as a “guest star,” a new star in the sky that appeared four times brighter than the planet Venus. At its peak, the supernova had a visual magnitude of about -6, and could be seen during the day for 23 days. The event was visible to the naked eye for 653 days at night. It was the brightest object in the sky next to the Moon for a few months, and is the best known supernova in the history of astronomy. Supernova 1054 was given the variable star designation CM Tauri. The star that exploded was 12 to 15 times more massive than the Sun, turned by the supernova event into a small neutron star that spins rapidly, ejecting stellar material. LOCATION The Crab Nebula is located near the southern horn of the celestial bull, represented by Taurus constellation . The southern horn is marked by the 3rd magnitude star Zeta Tauri, located to the east-northeast of the bright Aldebaran, Alpha Tauri .

The nebula can be found approximately 1 degree to the north and 1 degree to the west of Zeta Tauri. It is best seen in the evenings in January. Messier 1 lies only a degree and a half from the ecliptic and is frequently eclipsed by planets and the Moon. IMAGES Messier 1 (Crab Nebula) photographed by High Energy Focusing Telescope (HEFT), NASA’s Scientific Ballooning Program. Image: CM Hubert Chen, Fiona A. Harrison, Principal Investigator, Caltech Charles J. Hailey, Columbia Principal, Columbia, Finn E. Christensen, DSRI Principal, DSRI, William W. Craig, Optics Scientist, LLNL, Stephen M. Schindler, Project Manager, Caltech Composite: This photo shows a three colour composite of the well-known Crab Nebula (also known as Messier 1), as observed with the FORS2 instrument in imaging mode in the morning of November 10, 1999.

It is the remnant of a supernova explosion at a distance of about 6,000 light-years, observed almost 1,000 years ago, in the year 1054. It contains a neutron star near its center that spins 30 times per second around its axis (see below). In this picture, the green light is predominantly produced by hydrogen emission from material ejected by the star that exploded. The blue light is predominantly emitted by very high-energy (“relativistic”) electrons that spiral in a large-scale magnetic field (so-called syncrotron emission). It is believed that these electrons are continuously accelerated and ejected by the rapidly spinning neutron star at the centre of the nebula and which is the remnant core of the exploded star.

This pulsar has been identified with the lower/right of the two close stars near the geometric center of the nebula, immediately left of the small arc-like feature, best seen in ESO Press Photo eso9948 .Technical information : ESO Press Photo eso9948 is based on a composite of three images taken through three different optical filters: B (429 nm; FWHM 88 nm; 5 min; here rendered as blue), R (657 nm; FWHM 150 nm; 1 min; green) and S II (673 nm; FWHM 6 nm; 5 min; red) during periods of 0.65 arcsec (R, S II) and 0.80 (B) seeing, respectively. The field shown measures 6.8 x 6.8 arcmin and the images were recorded in frames of 2048 x 2048 pixels, each measuring 0.2 arcsec. North is up; East is left. Image: ESO This image of the Crab combines data from three of NASA’s Great Observatories.

X-rays from Chandra (blue) have been combined with optical images from Hubble (red and yellow) as well as infrared data from Spitzer (purple). Together, these three telescopes provide a striking view of this famous cosmic source. Image: Joseph DePasquale, Chandra X-Ray Observatory Visible light: Crab Nebula in visible light taken by the Hale Observatory optical telescope in 1959. Image: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA-MSFC) X-ray: In the Crab Nebula, a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar (white dot near the center), powers the dramatic activity seen by Chandra. The inner X-ray ring is thought to be a shock wave that marks the boundary between the surrounding nebula and the flow of matter and antimatter particles from the pulsar. Energetic particles move outward to brighten the outer ring and produce an extended X-ray glow. The jets perpendicular to the ring are due to matter and antimatter particles spewing out from the poles of the pulsar. The fingers, loops and bays visible on the outer boundary of the nebula are likely caused by confinement of the high-energy particles by magnetic forces.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory The Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Medium: Chandra telescope X-ray Image: NASA, CXC, SAO, F.Seward et al. Infrared: The Crab Nebula is the shattered remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a massive supernova explosion. Nearly a thousand years old, the supernova was noted in the constellation of Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054 AD. This view of the supernova remnant obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope shows the infrared view of this complex object.

The blue region traces the cloud of energetic electrons trapped within the star’s magnetic field, emitting so-called “synchrotron” radiation. The yellow-red features follow the well-known filamentary structures that permeate this nebula. Though they are known to contain hot gasses, their exact nature is still a mystery that astronomers are examining. The energetic cloud of electrons are driven by a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar, at its core. The nebula is about 6,500 light-years away from the Earth, and is 5 light-years across. This false-color image presents images from Spitzer’s Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) at 3.6 (blue), 8.0 (green), 24 (red) microns. Image: NASA, JPL-Caltech, R. Gehrz (University of Minnesota) VIDEO Crab Nebula - Facts About The Crab Nebula | Solarsystemquick.com Crab Nebula A Hubble space telescope image showing the thread like structure of the Crab Nebula. Crab Nebula Facts The Crab Nebula is around 6,500 light years from Earth and is located in the constellation of Taurus.

It is categorized as a supernova remnant, these type of nebula are created after a large star explodes at the end of its lifespan. The core of the dead star remains at the heart of the crab nebula and is now a pulsar, an incredibly dense and rapidly rotating object that emits high levels of radiation. The pulsar at the center of the Crab Nebula is thought to be only 18 miles (30 km) in diameter but has at least 1.5 times the mass of the sun. Unsurprisingly the object at the center of the nebula is known as the Crab Pulsar. The Crab Nebula has a span of 11 light years across and is growing at a rate of around 1 billion kilometers per day. The bright filaments or threads of the nebula are around 15,000 C (27,000 F) in temperature. The Crab Nebula produces 75,000 times more energy than the sun and emits radiation from the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Supernova explosions enrich the universe with heavy elements which are vital in the process of planetary formation.

Crab Nebula Discovery Infrared image of the energetic cloud created by radiation emitted by the internal pulsar. The supernova explosion that created the Crab Nebula was witnessed by far-eastern astronomers in 1054. At the time it would have been an extremely bright object in the night sky for several weeks and would have even been visible during the day. The nebula itself was discovered in 1721 by the British astronomer John Bevis. In 1758 Charles Messier began creating his catalogue of objects in the night sky. Messier was unaware of Bevis's discovery and catalogued the object as Messier 1 or M1. In 1844 the Irish astronomer William Parsons made a drawing of the nebula after observing it through his telescope, he thought it looked rather like a crab and thus the nebula gained its name. In the early 20th century astronomers realized that the nebula was expanding, by reversing the expansion rate they traced it back to the incident that had occurred 900 years earlier. As a result the Crab Nebula became the first ever object to be recognized as a supernova remnant.

Crab Nebula Location and Statistics Location This image shows the position of the Crab Nebula in the night sky. The nearest bright star to the nebula is Zeta Pegasi, once you have located that it is easy enough to find the Crab Nebula. You can use the very bright stars Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion and Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus as markers to locate Zeta Pegasi. The nebula is visible from late autumn to early spring in the northern hemisphere and the summer months in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately the Crab Nebula is too dim to be viewed with the naked eye, with a pair of binoculars you will only make out a faint smudge so a telescope is needed in order to see more detail. Statistics Also Known As: M1, Messier 1, NGC 1952, Taurus A Distance from Earth: 6.500 light years Nebula Type: Supernova Remnant Chandra :: Field Guide to X-ray Sources :: The Crab Nebula Story try our Spacey Supernova Word Search!

Crab Nebula Page < > Palomar, PRC96-22a, ST Sci OPO, May 30, 1996, J.Hester and P.Scowen (AZ State Univ.) and NASA For millions of years a star shined in the far off constellation of Taurus . So far away, and so faint that even if our eyes were ten thousand times more sensitive, the star would still not be visible to us on the Earth. Then one day, in a few seconds, all that changed. An explosion beyond belief in its intensity lit up the heavens; it still shines, almost one thousand years later.... 1054 And You Are There It was just another day in the year 1054. People walking around the marketplace, discussing the current gossip about the latest advance of the barbarian hordes to the north. In places, it was raining, perhaps, but SOMEWHERE it was probably clear... Within one minute, a dazzling light ten billion times more energetic than that of the Sun burst into the daytime heavens. Although so far away that it seemed a mere pinpoint, Chinese astronomers reported that the new heavenly jewel outshone all the stars visible in the sky.

Its intense glow ruled the sky for months. You could READ by its fiery light. The scholars of the day called them "guest stars", and probably calmed many a fearful citizen when they informed them that one had appeared in 1006, a mere 48 years ago, and that all who witnessed the event survived. For several hundred days, the star was visible during the day, slowly, slowly fading toward the obscurity from which it emerged. The Crab Nebula had just been created. What Happened? Left Image: Palomar, PRC96-22a, ST Sci OPO, May 30, 1996, J.Hester and P. Scowen (AZ State Univ.) and NASA Right Image: Carnegie Observatories, Washington, D.C. Almost one thousand years later, the Crab Nebula still glows, and informs us of its fascinating story. It begins about 30 million years ago, when a rather large star began to radiate. Because of its size, it was destined to live an abbreviated life (from a cosmic point of view!), compared to the 10 billion years or so that is allotted to our own Sun.

As a reward, perhaps, it was also destined to go out in a blaze of glory, for 100 days rivalling the light output of our entire galaxy containing one hundred billion stars. At the close of its existence, this star recycles itself into the fabric of our universe. It simply explodes, not from its surface as do other less massive stars, but from the very core of its central fire. We are still witnessing this explosion, 7000 years after it occurred. "Wait! You made a mistake," I hear you cry. "You just said the explosion happened in 1054! That's only 1000 years ago." No Mistake has been made. It really did happen 7000 years ago. The Remnant Radiation Palomar, PRC96-22a, ST Sci OPO, May 30, 1996, J.Hester and P.Scowen (AZ State Univ.) and NASA The energy of the explosion was stupendous.

Most of the star's mass is ejected at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per SECOND, becoming a cosmic vacuum cleaner of sorts, sweeping up all the gas in its path as it rushes outward from its former stellar home. Where the gas it encounters in the depths of space is rather concentrated, it slows down a bit more than where the gas is more rarified. Thus, the nebula appears fairly irregular, with the beautiful wisps, knots, and filaments that we still see today. But what powers the nebula? How can we still see it after all these years? What makes it glow so steadily in the sky? The answer was to wait until very recently, 1967, when a strange radio signal was detected in the sky.... Pulsar Radiation Blinking Pulsar Although the Crab Nebula has been studied with telescopes for hundreds of years, it wasn't until 1967 that we began to understand the nature of the central engine that powers the Crab Nebula and enables it to glow. In that year, Jocelyn Bell, a student at Cambridge University in England, found a curious object in the constellation of Vulpecula.

It seemed to be a "star" whose light blinked on and off, apparently much like a lighthouse beacon, with an amazingly precise frequency of once every 1.33728 seconds. What could possibly DO that, in the sky, with such accuracy? Soon others were found, and astronomers jokingly called them LGMs for "Little Green Men." (What else could possibly be responsible for such bizarre behavior?) Shortly thereafter, one such beacon was discovered at the center of the Crab Nebula, beating 30 times per second! Not only that, it could be seen throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves through X-rays. Although later called "pulsars," it turned out that rotation is responsible for the clock-like regularity of the pulses. And the star? Well, it turned out to be something so strange and exciting that it almost defies description.... The Fantastic World of the Neutron Star Optical image of the Crab Nebula (Credit: Palomar Obs.) Despite the intensity of the supernova explosion that created the Crab Nebula, some stellar material stayed behind, and survived intact. An object called a neutron star was left.

Crushed by the titanic forces of the explosion, about 2 solar masses of material remained out of the original 8-12 solar masses of the exploded star. But, the crushed material was compressed into a volume no larger than that of Manhattan Island, and its supporting bedrock! A mere thimbleful of this star-stuff would contain the same mass as about 10 million full sized, African elephants!! These stars are unbelievably dense! And just as an ice skater spins faster and faster as she pulls her body closer and closer to her rotation axis, as this star collapsed from the originally slowly spinning parent object, it too began to spin more and more rapidly. The magnetic field also increases greatly in strength. The combination of rapid rotation and strong magnetic field is believed to generate jets of high-energy particles that produce the pulses. Several years after this discovery, it was found that the Crab Pulsar was very, very gradually slowing down! This meant that it was losing energy. Remarkably, when we calculated this loss of energy, it turned out to be almost precisely the amount of energy necessary to power the Crab Nebula itself!!!

In other words, the pulsar in the Crab was "feeding" the nebula just the right amount of energy to illuminate it as we see it today. The Crab Nebula is truly a beautiful sight in the sky, when viewed through a telescope, and its history and evolution are no less remarkable. It is probably the single most studied object in the heavens today. Who knows what the future holds for it, and for our understanding of the processes that shape its evolution? X-Rays, Chandra, and the Crab Nebula The Crab Nebula has continually surprised us over the centuries. Although visible for almost 1000 years, it ceaselessly changes its appearance and structure. With the advent of satellites that can probe different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, we have increased our knowledge of this strange object manyfold. One of the most unusual discoveries was that the optical filaments of the nebula are apparently still being accelerated almost a millenium after the initial explosion! Imagine a bicycle that goes even faster after you stop pedalling! Clearly something has to be providing more energy to both the bicycle and the Crab Nebula for this to happen.

Crab Nebula Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO When we look at the Nebula in a different light, we can examine different physical processes that may exist there. X-ray telescopes provide such a possibility. Because of their higher energies, the X-ray emission gives us a different look at the Nebula. In the amazingly detailed image shown here from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we see that high-energy X-rays are concentrated toward the center of the nebula. Spectacular ring-like structures around the central pulsar are visible, as are jets blasting away from the pulsar perpendicular to the rings. As scientists continue their study of the Crab, the new Chandra data will provide an important piece of evidence to the puzzle of how the pulsar's power gets into the Crab Nebula. You can be sure that there will be some surprises in store for us. Stay tuned for the results!

Children of the Stars The Crab Nebula (M1): Facts, Discovery & Images The Crab Nebula (M1): Facts, Discovery & Images By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | August 8, 2012 11:40am ET MORE When a star dies in a violent, fiery death, it spews its innards out across the sky, creating an expanding wave of gas and dust known as a supernova nebula. Arguably, the most famous of these supernova remnants is M1, also called the Crab Nebula, a blob-like patch visible in low-powered binoculars. Let's take a look at this viewing treasure. The Hubble Space Telescope has caught the most detailed view of the Crab Nebula in one of the largest images ever assembed by the space-based observatory. Credit: NASA/ESA and Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Early observations Chinese astronomers watching the sky on July 4, 1054, noted the appearance of a new or "guest" star just above the southern horn of Taurus.

But knowledge of star-fields was not necessary to spot this surprising visitor — according to records, the bright source was visible during the daytime for 23 days, shining six times as brightly as Venus. Those well-versed with the night sky would have been able to see it for 653 days — almost two years — with the naked eye. Other observations of the explosion were recorded by Japanese, Arabic, and Native American stargazers. In 1731, British astronomer John Bevis observed a cloudy blob in the sky and added it to his star atlas. But it wasn't until French astronomer Charles Messier independently observed it 27 years later that things began to pick up for this stellar remnant. Messier was a voracious comet hunter, but he found that the quality of telescopes at the time made it easy to confuse the fuzzy, blazing balls of ice with the hazy nebulae that dot the night sky. While searching for a comet that Edmond Halley had predicted would return in 1758, Messier discovered a hazy patch in the sky, which he would later add to his catalog as Messier 1, or M1.

Studying the nebula over time revealed that, unlike a comet, it didn't move across the night sky, and thus was a completely different feature. After a few other misidentifications, Messier was determined to put together a catalog of these objects in order to prevent other astronomers from making the same mistake. M1 became his first entry. Although he credited himself with its discovery in his first publication of the Messier catalog, he acknowledged Bevis' original finding in subsequent versions after receiving a letter from the astronomer. Messier went on to expand his list to include 110 objects, most of them supernova remnants. [ 50 Fabulous Deep-Space Nebula Photos ] Around 1844, British astronomer William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse, sketched the nebula. The resemblance of the image to a crustacean led to M1's other name, the Crab Nebula. In the early 20th century, astronomers were able to take more detailed measurements of M1 and determined that it is expanding. Working backwards, they determined its origination date, and matched the explosion up with observations from Chinese and Native American records.

Fermi's LAT discovered a gamma-ray 'superflare' from the Crab Nebula on April 12, 2011. These images show the number of gamma rays with energies greater than 100 million electron volts from a region of the sky centered on the Crab Nebula. Both views eliminate emission form the Crab pulsar by showing the sky in between its pulses. In both images, the bright source below is the Geminga pulsar. At left, the region 20 days before the flare; at right, April 14. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT/R. Buehler The guts of the nebula A supernova remnant forms when the pressure inside of a star is stronger than the gravity that holds it together, and the star explodes. As the gas rushes outward, it fills the space around it. The material ejected from the Crab Nebula is moving at more than 3 million mph (4.8 million kph). [ Supernova Photos: Great Images of Star Explosions ] The nebula stretches 10 light-years across, though it continues to expand. It lies approximately 6,300 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Taurus.

M1 can be seen with the naked eye in a dark sky, but only barely. A pair of binoculars will turn up a dim patch, while more of the identifying features of the nebula become visible with a low-magnification telescope. A higher-grade, 16-inch telescope will begin to refine more of the nebula. A bright source within In the summer of 1967, U.S. Air Force officer Charles Schisler was on radar duty at Clear Air Force Base in Alaska when he noticed a fluctuating radio source. The source appeared over the course of several days, and Schisler noticed that its position coincided with the Crab Nebula. However, the findings weren't published by the Air Force at the time, and the discovery went unrealized until 2007. A year later, astronomers in Puerto Rico discovered the same pulsing radio source. Determined to be a pulsar , the object is a rapidly-rotating, town-sized star that flashes about 30 times a second. Known as NP0532, or the Crab Pulsar, the neutron star is 100,000 times more energetic than the sun.

Though only a few tens of miles across, it shines about as brightly as our nearest sun. — Nola Taylor Redd Crab Nebula | StarDate Online Spectacular Crab Strands of gas and dust form the spectacular Crab Nebula, the remnant of a star that exploded almost a millennium ago as seen from Earth. The explosion acted as a chemical factory, creating many elements that were then expelled to space; they form different colored strands in this Hubble Space Telescope image. The nebula, also known as M1, spans about a dozen light-years in the constellation Taurus. [NASA/ESA/J. Hester/A. Loll (ASU)] A colorful crab scuttles across the sky on December nights. It’s faint and far away. But almost a thousand years ago, it announced its birth in dramatic fashion — as a brilliant new star in the constellation Taurus. It was bright enough to see in daylight for several weeks. The Crab Nebula is a cloud of glowing gas that spans about a dozen light-years. It’s called the crab because its tendrils of gas resemble a crab. The nebula was born when a heavy star exploded as a supernova, blasting its outer layers into space.

The gas is racing outward at millions of miles per hour, so it’s spread out to form a big cloud. At the center of the nebula is the star’s crushed core — a neutron star. It’s roughly twice as massive as the Sun, but only about as wide as a small city. At such extreme density, a teaspoon of its matter would weigh as much as 10 million African elephants. The explosion that created the nebula also caused the neutron star to spin more than 30 times a second. And it created a magnetic field a trillion times stronger than Earth’s. As the star spins, the magnetic field causes it to beam energy into space. [audio: pulsar] Radio telescopes detect this beam as “pulses” of energy, so the neutron star is also known as a pulsar. Taurus is low in the east at nightfall and climbs high across the south later on. The nebula is in its southern horn, and is visible through a small telescope — the glowing remains of an exploded star.

Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2015 Crab Nebula | astronomy | Britannica.com Crab Nebula Alternative Titles: M1, NGC 1952 Related Topics Orion Nebula Crab Nebula, (catalog numbers NGC 1952 and M1), probably the most intensely studied bright nebula , in the constellation Taurus , about 6,500 light-years from Earth . Roughly 10 light-years in diameter, it is assumed to be the remnant of a supernova (violently exploding star) observed by Chinese and other astronomers first on July 4, 1054. The supernova was visible in daylight for 23 days and at night for almost 2 years. There are no records of its observation at the time by Europeans. The Crab Nebula (M1, NGC 1952) in the constellation Taurus is a gaseous remnant of the galactic … Courtesy of Palomar Observatory/California Institute of Technology The discovery of the object as a nebula is attributed to the English physician and amateur astronomer John Bevis in about 1731.

In 1758 it was the first object listed (M1) in Charles Messier ’s catalog of nebulous objects. It acquired its name, suggested by its form, in the mid-19th century. In 1921 it was discovered to be still expanding; the present rate is about 1,100 km (700 miles) per second. The Crab is one of the few astronomical objects from which radiation has been detected over the entire measurable spectrum, from radio waves through infrared and visible wavelengths to ultraviolet , X-rays , and gamma rays . In the late 1960s the Crab pulsar (NP 0532), thought to be the collapsed remnant of the supernova, was discovered near the centre of the nebula. The pulsar, which flashes in radio, visible, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths at 30 times per second, provides the energy that allows the nebula to glow. Crab pulsar (NP 0532), as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Photo AURA/STScI/NASA/JPL (NASA photo # STScI-PRC96-22a) Learn More in these related articles: Astronomy for Kids - The Constellations Orion - The Great Hunter Orion is the largest constellation in the sky. This giant figure dominates the sky in the early mornings in late summer and fall, and in the evenings during the first part of winter. It also has several really interesting things you can see with just a pair of binoculars. Scorpius - The Scorpion Scorpius is one sign that summer is in full swing in the northern hemisphere. This beautiful constellation is in full view in the southern sky only during the months of July, August and September, but its beauty makes it worth the wait. Another companion of Orion, Taurus is located directly above the Hunter in the sky. In addition to the giant red star Aldebaran, Taurus is the home of the Crab Nebula and the Pleiades cluster.

Finding the Constellations in the Sky Although we have provided maps and charts for all of our example constellations, and given general times when you can see them, it is still very difficult to accurately show our three-dimensional sky on a flat screen like your computer monitor. All of the constellations and asterisms we show you are actually quite large in the sky. We will use Orion as a general example. If you hold your hand out at arm's length and spread your fingers, Orion will be at least as large as your hand is. Keep this in mind when you are just getting started finding the constellations. Once you have found the really big ones, like Orion and the Big Dipper, you will get use to looking for, and recognizing, the patterns of the constellations. It's actually pretty easy once you get started. What Are Those Odd "M" Numbers In several of our example constellations, like Orion, we make reference to objects like the Orion Nebula and have an "M" followed by a number. In the case of the Orion Nebula, this number is M42. The "M" stands for Charles Messier, who was a French astronomer that lived on the eighteenth century.

His main passion was searching for comets and he made a list of objects in the sky that weren't comets and put them into a catalog. The objects in this catalog were identified by his initial M and a number indicating the order in which he cataloged them. This catalog, called, appropriately enough, the Messier Catalog, and is still in use today. Find Out More About The Constellations

Question: In which constellation would you find the Crab Nebula?
Answer: Taurus